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Torall whom it may concern:

UNITED STATES PATENT FFICE,

CARL VOLSEY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO THE VOLNEY CHEMICALCOMPANY.

EXPLOVSIVE COMPOUND.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 249,490, dated November15,'1881. Application filed )darch 7, 188L- (No cpecimensl) Be it knownthat I, CARL \VALTER VoL- NEY, of the city of New York, in the countyand State of New York, have inventeda new and useful Explosive Compound,of which the following is a true and correct description.

Tomanufacture this explosive compound an oily liquid is first preparedby saturating coueentratcd glycerine with dry hydrochlorine ormuriatic-acirl gas, said glycerine being kept during the process ofsaturation at a temperature of not more than 250 and not less than 212of Fahrenheits scale. The glycerino, thus saturated with hydrochlorinegas,- and thereby converted into propenylchlorhydrate, or, as it wasformerly called, glycerine chlor-. hydrin, undergoes thereby thefollowing decomposition, expresscd by G H (H):+ H01 =C H5Ol(OH) +H 0.This glycerine chlorhydrin, after having cooled to about 50 Fahrenheit,isthen gradually incorporated into a mixture of sulphuric and nitricacid, said mixture having previously been cooled to a temperature of or35 Fahrenheit. The processwhich then takes place is expressed by therebyforming mcnochlordinitrin or chlorpropenyldiuitrate and water. The wholeliquid is poured into a tank containing a large quantity of water,whereby the monochlordinitrio is precipitated on the bottom of said"tank. It is then drawn off and repeatedly washed or agitated withrenewed fresh quantitiesof water to remove traces of adhering acids. Forthis purpose also the lastly-used wash-waters may contain some sodiumcan 'bonate'in solution, whereby the last traces of adhering acids areneutralized. The oily liquid thus obtained is the. above-mentionedmonochlordinitrin or chlorpropenyldinitrate,

C H,Gl(NO and is now ready for the manufactnre of the explosivecompound, the subject of this specification. The quantities of glycerinechlorhydrin and of sulphuric acid and nitrio acid which are to be usedin the above-described process of" preparing monochlordinit-rin maysomewhat vary with the degree of at a temperature of Fahrenheit, and theacids were mixed previously in the proportion, by weight, of two partsof sulphuric acid'to one part of nitric acid, then a perfect nitrationof the glycerine chlorhydrin is efi'ectcd by using one poundof'the-latter' to five pounds of the acid mixture; I

The mouochloruinitrin forms one part of the new explosive compound. Theother part, which uppearsin powder form, and which I shall name thecomposition, being composed stance and certain oxidizing agents, such asare formed by-chlorates and nitrates, serves the purpose of holding inabsorption and to decompose the monochlordinitrin when subjectedto asuflicient degree of heat. For the latter reason the chlorates anduitrates,besides furnishing oxygen, have to supplya sufficient quantityof a basic or metallic element, as potassium, sodium, barium, and othersuitable equivalent alkaline metals, which can readily combine with thechlorine of the monochlordinitriu and form. therewith a chloride. Itshould further be observed that the composition has to be sufiicieutlysensitive to the initiative force of an exploding charge or detonator,as used in the discharge of nitro-glycerine, dynamite, and other socalled high ex-f plosives. The first of these conditions I in]- flll byan appropriate-quantity of'sodium nitrate. The sodium forms sodiumchloride'with the chlorine of the monoohlordinitrin the secend, ifnecessary, by a moderate addition of potassium chlorate. The oxygen ofthese salts is used in oxidizing carbon and hydrogen, which arecontained in excess over its own oxygen inthe monochlordiuitrin. Thismutual relation and decomposition between monochlordinitrin and sodiumnitrate in the moment of explosion is a characteristic feature of thisexplosive compound, and distinguishes it froman other high explosivecompounds. The decomposition may be expressed thus: 2[0 HGl(NO,),]+2(NaNO,) 2Na0l 600, 513 0 +4N-l-O.

as very efiective, I found the following proportions for the preparationof a serviceable composition: potassium chloratei twenty-five -pounds;sodium nitrate, sixtyve pounds; dried woody fiber, ten pounds. Into thiscom of an'intimale mixture of fibrous organic sub very eflicientdynamite.

Ihave prepared compounds containing forty parts, by weigh t, ofmonochlordinitrin to sixty parts of the above-described composition, sothat it contained an excess ofsodium nitrate.

It the compound does not contain a basic metal, or not enough of it toferm n. chloride with the chlorine of themonochlordinitrin, an eflicientexplosive compound can thereby not be produced. Mixing, for example,lIiODOOhlOI- dinitrin with silica or other inertmatter ,does

not give an eiflcient explosive compound,-

whereas nitro-glyeerine forms with silica the This feature or quality ofnitro-glycerine, not requiringanyassistonce from any'edmixtureorcomposition, is the'cause that the value or strength of thenitro-glyeerine compounds is almost exclusively depending upon thequantity of nitro-glycerine which they contain 5 but the value orstrength of the explosive coin pound invented by me de pends upon thequantity of the mixture of monochlordinitrin and sodium nitrate in theequivalent proportions setforth before, as this is necessary for amutualdecomposition and theprodncing of an efiicient explosion.

Patents have been granted to Alfred Nobel an d many others for explosivecompounds contniningnitro-glyeerine, potassium chlorate, nitrotes. andwoody fiber.

I donot claim any of these as my invention, or any part thereof.

Having fully described my invention, what I desire to secure .by LettersPatent is- 1. The mixture consisting of the substance known as and namedmonoehlordi'nitrin or chlorpropenyldinitrate, and, a nitrate of po'tassium,sodium, barium, or any other suitable alkaline metal, in suchequivalent quantities that thereby a mutual-decomposition betweenmonochlordinitrin and the nitrate can be effected, as described. 4

2. The mixture of nionoehlordi nitri'n orchlorpropenyldiuilrate withnitrates and chlorates of potassium, sodium, barium, or other suitableequivalent alkaline metals, and vegetable fiheron charcoal, or both, inthe manner and for the purposes described.

I CARLWALTER VOLN EY.

Witnesses:

WM. H. MORRIS, CHAS. G. Gmmym.

